The Paducah Sun - Ads, Polls don't Fret Beshear

News Article

September 04, 2007

Candidates tout qualifications at holiday picnic

"I don't like to talk about internal polls, but if I did talk about them I'd tell you he isn't gaining," Beshear said Monday prior to speaking at the annual Labor Day Picnic in Carson Park.

Public polls taken since the May primaries have consistently shown Beshear with a 15 to 20 percent lead over Fletcher, who in 2003 became the first Republican elected governor in 32 years.

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"It is time to finally clean this mess up we've had in Frankfort for the last four years," he said to the cheers of the 160 who gathered to listen to the speakers.

"The mess has been scandal after scandal, indictment after indictment and pardon after pardon," he said. "It is time for an experienced, competent and honest leadership in this state again."

He promised to make improvements in education "to give our children the world-class education they need in order to compete in this world."

Beshear also said his administration would place emphasis on helping existing businesses grow and expand rather than focusing most of the attention on trying to attract new businesses that are unstable.

Beshear also talked about values, noting that he's the son of a Baptist preacher.

"My parents worked hard to keep food on the table, clothes on our backs and a roof over our heads," he said. "What they couldn't give us in material goods, they more than made up by giving us a strong belief in God, a belief that we need to be accountable and responsible to ourselves and a belief that education is the key to success."

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